Tony Osborne
Organisational Development Professional
Testimonials
“I've worked with Tony on several business change and improvement projects in Probation over the past 5 or 6 years. He has always brought energy, enthusiasm and practical solutions to these projects. He has a broad knowledge of OD and Change, which means he understands what's in the toolkit and can adapt his approach accordingly. He's not one of those OD people who is wedded to one particular methodology; he's more focused on "what works".
Ian Seath
Improvement Skills Consulting Ltd.
PROJECT 1: LAUNCHING A NEW TRUST
My organisation was successfully granted Trust status and as part of this arrangement was permitted to merge with a neighbouring Trust. The creation of a new, organisation with its different cultures and histories needed careful management. I was asked to lead a team of staff (for whom I had no direct line management responsibility) to plan and deliver an event to launch this new endeavour. The project management of the event was successful and within its £100k budget. This project necessitated working across two organisations, the creation and dissemination of internal change management communications, and the stage management of of two events over the course of the launch day. This event marked the commencement of a new chapter in the organisations history.
Previous Projects
PROJECT 2: EXPERIENCE BASED DESIGN
Having researched and familiarised myself with EBD techniques, I was asked to undertake a piece of work at a hostel for offenders. I worked with staff and residents to identify the key issues that impacted upon hostel effctiveness the residents personal experiences. I learned that the external reputation of the hostel in custodial establishments had an impact upon the catagory and number of potential residents and their behaviour and period of settlement upon reception. I worked with the residents to create an information booklet relating to their own perceptions, experiences and to offer advice to would be, future residents. The booklet was professionally printed and distributed to all relevant establishments nationally. Further work from this project helped to re-shape parts of the hostels internal regime and work programme.
PROJECTS
Below is an outline of some of the projects I have worked on in the recent past, to give an overview of some of my skills, abilities and capacity to work with, and through, others to achieve successful outcomes. Project 1: was supported by eight years of solid event management, designing and delivering management development events and awards ceremonies. This was achieved through the creation of a small team of loyal colleagues who held the reputation of these events in high regard ensuring each one was different, learned from previous events and was individually effective. Project 2: reveals my drive to be creative, to innovate and to transfer knowledge and techniques from other settings and industries into the current situation to achieve more effective results. Project 3: details my desire to partner, mentor and work alongside others (employees or managers) to seek effective outcomes to present or future challenges. This work has also included the research and design of support materials for managers to provide thought leadership on relevant topics.
PROJECT 3: MORE EFFECTIVE PROJECT MANAGEMENT
My organisation began to use a new project management tool, with mixed results. I took the opportunity to become familiar with the tool and the way it operated, including building strong relationships with the tool's providers. Eventually, I was seen as the person who could help those less familiar with the technology to use its functionality to help them move their existing 'paper' project management on-line. I became aware that we had no systematic way to evaluate our projects at the end of their life-cycle, and so researched and adapted the After Action Review process to meet these needs. I produced supporting guidance for managers and trialed the process on a number of cross-organisational projects until it became accepted as the standard project review tool.